Ooh la la

Well it's been a busy few days. While in Lyon I made I list with Laura of the absolute must-sees in Paris and then the hope-to-sees and then the if-there's-times so I had a prioritised list to work through and the good news is I'm done it! Well I ,issed a couple from the last section, but they were always designated misssable anyway and I did add a few things too so it balances.

Thursday was Notre Dame in the morning. It really is so beautiful. I had intended to climb the towers but I got there early and they weren't open yet, my stair climbing plans didn't stand up under the idea of having to return especially. I walked all around the cathedral and took a bunch of photos and imagined Quasimodo clambouring all over it. I know he wasn't real, but it was such a good book that I want it to be real.

Then I wander around the Ile St. Louis which is very pretty and tiny, really lovely, and the Ile de Cité which is bigger but also pretty. Then the latin quarter (also with more pictures of Notre Dame) where I found Shakespeare and Company. People always either look for it and can't find it or just stumble across it so I was category two. Latin Quarter was beautiful but so touristy and crowded it was a bit off-putting.

I walked to Musee d'Orsay next, got a crepe on the way and felt very French (except I made a total mess and I think real French people are tidier.) Musee d'Orsay was great, it's in an old train station so it's quite different to most museums, I mean, really, those ones in old palaces are so passé. I spent a couple hours there, saw lots of Manet and Monet among others and had a great time. It was nice to feel like you could actually cope with the exhibitions, the Louvre made me feel so incompetent. Half of one floor was closed and the lovely lady I asked said depending on staff they might open it after 6pm (it was 2.30) so I decided to come back.

Musee Rodin was a hope-to-see and isn't far from the d'Orsay so I headed that way with a detour past Hotel Invalides where Napoleon is buried but didn't bother going to see his tomb. Rodin was great, lots of works on display that I wasn't familiar with but which were really amazing. One piece called Playing Nymphs was marble carved on both sides so thin that you could see light through it, really beautiful. I spent about an hour and a half wandering the gardens, the museum and the temporary exhibition about Freud and Rodin who never met but had several mutual friends and both collected ancient objects from Greece and Rome.

I still had over an hour to kill so I decided to check out the Pantheon and the Luxembourg Gardens. Checked my map and plotted my route only to find it blocked by one of Paris' infamous student protests! It was pretty impressive. Riot police, fences being pushed back and forth, tear gas canisters being waved threateningly. I don't even know what it was about but it was pretty cool. So I found a new route, saw the gardens but didn't go in; ditto for the pantheon. Had the best crepe I've had in Paris. No really, next time you're in Paris (as you will be I'm sure) head to the pantheon and then walk away from it until you get to the intersection and on your right is a green crepe shop, it's not expensive and it's awesome.

So back to the Musee d'Orsay, via Notra Dame for a night pic, and the rooms had been opened so I got to enjoy the naturalists, symbolists and the Art Nouveau. Delightful. But a really long day, I left the hostel before 9 and didn't back until about 8.30, I was exhausted. So I went to bed at about 10.

Yesterday I headed to Versailles on the nastiest day I've had yet, frezing cold, windy, with icy rain, it was so not the day for exploring gardens! I went anyway and enjoyed the palace a lot. You get a "free" audiguide (read: we've raised our prices to include the audioguide) so I enjoyed having a British accent tell me about the court of Louis the umpteenth. Unfortunately someone thought it would be a great idea to display the contemporary "art" of someone called Jeff Koons in each room so you were walking through the bedroom of Marie-Antoinette and got to see an inflatable lobster hanging from the ceiling. Not my cup of tea but someone somewhere is making a lot of money out of this. Still fun to see all the rooms and portraits. I did manage about ten minutes in the garden before scampering to the train station and the heat.

Afternoon was spent in the Centre Pompidou where I ignored all the floors except 1905-1960 where all the stuff I like is. I'm sure I could have seen some really great contemporary art if I'd had the energy but I was still feeling ultra-cynical after the Koons/Versailles experience. I loved the modern art display. Lots of Magritte and Man Ray, and a lot of people who I'm going to have to look up because their works were so interesting.

Got to the hostel earlier than usual, around 6, because I had to pack for today's flight to Dublin, which is now in 5 hours! This morning I walked to Galerie La Fayette which is Paris' answer to Harrods, and it's amazing. Big shiny and expensive, what more could you want from Paris? Then to Le Marais which is a really lovely pretty part of the city. As pretty as the Latin Quarter I think and not so touristy. I visited Victor Hugo's house (free, hurrah) and had a wee moment of hero-worship. He's so cool.

Then I came to update all of you and next I'll check out a couple vintage stores in the area before heading off to catch my bus to get to my plane. Paris is the first city I've left where I really wish I had more time, I long to stay here another... lifetime? I just have to keep assuring myself that I'll be back!